In Silence, Rain Speaks
by Glyndwr
Summary: In a different world, in a different time, Kurosaki Masaki lived and Kurosaki Isshin died. And thus, a young Ichigo was thrust into the treacherous world of the Quincy
1. Nenju Juujika  Mother and Son

**Warnings: **_very_ AU, character death (sort of)

**Summary:** In a different world, in a different time, Kurosaki Masaki lived and Kurosaki Isshin died. And thus, a young Ichigo was introduced the world of the Quincy.

**AN: **I took a lot of liberties with this story, but it's an idea that's been bugging me for a while.

* * *

Part One: Nenju Juujika

Chapter One

"_Speck of the earth,_

_Death of the wind._

_Drop of the river,_

_Death of the mountain._

_Spark of the volcano,_

_Death of the ocean."_

_-Quincy Proverb_

_Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. _

The clock on the wall read far past visiting hours, but Kurosaki Masaki had always been a troublemaker and a hoodlum (at least, according to her mother; most people referred to her as spirited). Her feet wandered from one end of the room to the next, narrowly avoiding the two blue couches and coffee table centered in the room, her pacing monotonous as the steady ticking of the clock.

Ryuuken doubted the younger woman had scene either an hour of sleep or the light of day since she raced into the hospital, carrying her severely burned son, babbling nonsense. If her husband had seen her, he wouldn't have wasted a moment before throwing her over his should and taking her elsewhere. _Any_where elsewhere.

And that was part of the problem.

Kurosaki Isshin was dead.

Masaki had known that, of course, known he was a former shinigami captain, _known_ that perhaps someday Soul Society would discover former Fourth Division Captain Kyouraku Isshin was, in fact, not dead. But, she never comprehended what it could mean for her and her family. And Soul believed there was relative reason in "the senseless murder of a well-respected doctor and his twin daughters"—despite what the news and the population of Karakura Town said.

After all, Shinigami were strictly forbidden to alter the fates of the living (except in the direst of circumstances). To marry a mortal would surely alter her fate, and any progeny therein were considered less than human: they were merely souls, trapped in a living gigai. From what little he managed to glean from Isshin over the years, the best a child of a shinigami and a mortal could hope for was considered a modified soul, and dealt with accordingly. At worst, the child's soul was terminated.

It was because of this rule that Kurosaki Karin and Yuzu were no longer among the living and the reason why Isshin was no longer with them. When he heard the news, he'd offered a small prayer that Kurosaki's devil's luck would hold, but the man doubted it. Soul Society was entrenched in ancient beliefs and traditions—the slim hopes of the three wayward Kurosakis rested solely on the backs of old friends abandoned over a hundred years ago.

Somehow, Ryuuken felt his sister and nephew were better off running into the hollow.

* * *

The boy was lost; aimlessly wandering amidst sideways skyscrapers enclosed by empty streets and overcast sky. He wasn't sure where this place was, or why he was here, but for some reason he could not define, the boy knew he didn't want to leave. Reality was simply too painful.

If the boy had been alone, he might have thought differently. He might have woken up, decided than even if the real world was hell, it was better than existing in a blank nothingness.

But as it was, even if the boy couldn't see or hear his shadow, he knew it was there. Watching him. Waiting for something. The boy didn't care overly much for the shadow, he much rather would have been able to see it face to face, but the shadow drove away the voices…

_"…sensei?"_ Worry.

_"I don't…I'm sorry."_ Sadness.

_"Save him. He's all—"_ Desperation.

_"…tell him?"_ Concern.

_"Father…poor kid."_ Pity.

_"…might not…the burning's so severe…"_ Despair.

The voices hurt. The voices changed this peaceful paradise into a horrifying hell. Sometimes, they turned this world askew, and made him fall forever. Sometimes, the voices caused the overcast sky to pour down rain.

And sometimes, they made him remember…

"_Kaasan!"_

_The brown-haired woman had a death-grip on her son's wrist._

"_A girl just jumped in the river! We have to save h—"_

"_Be quiet," his mother hissed, voice unusually firm._

"_But, the girl!"_

"_Shh!" Her other hand, her left, clutched something beneath her shirt. "Get your father."_

"_Kaa…san?"_

"_Don't argue. Go."_

"_But—!"_

"_Go!"_

_The boy turned to run but didn't even have to blink as—something—came flying at him, monstrous, horrible, _evil…

…The boy suddenly grabbed at his arm, reliving tearing pain he thought he'd forgotten.

_"Oi, grab him!"_ A voice shouted from nowhere.

God, it hurt to breathe. He collapsed onto a window, hand grasping at the…

…._eyes widened in horror when he realized the monster's jaw was biting down on his arm. The sickening smile, whites black and irises gleaming yellowyellowyellow, as if it were some ancient thing ascended from the abyss._

"_I—!"_

_But whatever the woman screamed at him was lost. He couldn't move, couldn't think, could hardly breathe--hypnotized by those yellow, yellow, yellow eyes._

"_Such a delicious soul," the monster murmured._

_The arrow, burning red, glistening white, came from behind him, nicked his ear, and struck the monster right in the eye. The boy was thrown several feet into the air as the monster writhed._

_The second arrow missed._

_And he screamed as burning white pain consumed him, screamed as the world burst into fire. And screamed as…_

…cool, frost-like arms ghosted around him. The boy looked up into the face of his shadow, an older man with brown hair, eyes obscured by sunglasses. His face was hard to define, as if the man lay somewhere between the very real and imaginary, both physical and paranormal.

"Who are you?" the boy asked, voice hoarse.

The man smiled, but did not speak. And yet, the boy understood: _I am me._

"I meant what's your name!"

Amusement flickered across the man's face. _For now, I remain nameless. _

"You don't have a name?"

_I will. And perhaps, someday, you will learn it, when we are fully formed, Ichigo._

"Ichigo is…my name?" It sounded so familiar…

_Yes. Kurosaki Ichigo._

"One who protects," the boy quoted from some distant, painful memory. "But who do I…?"

_Wake, and you will remember._

He couldn't protect his mother from the monster, he couldn't save the girl from drowning, couldn't even defeat Tatsuki. He was useless. Utterly useless. "How?"

_Wake, and you will learn._

"But, I'm awake!" He protested, even though he knew it was a lie. This world wasn't real, couldn't be real…

_Wake, Ichigo!_

* * *

**AN:** Yes, apparently Ichigo's mother is a Quincy. And alive. And Ishida and Ichigo are cousins…so like? Dislike? Review?

Nenju Juujika: rosary cross, or so my online translator says.

Kaasan: mother

Sensei: doctor, in this case


	2. Nenju Juujika The Lost Boy

AN: For the sake of this story the Ishida family _are not_ the last of the Quincy.

Disclaimer: If I did own Bleach, the world would suffer greatly.

Summary: Ichigo awakens, Masaki and Souken have a "discussion", and Isshin's trial begins.

* * *

Part One: Nenju Juujika

Chapter Two: The Lost Boy

_Listen to the wind,_

_But do not drown._

_ -Quincy Proverb_

Ichigo groaned, his hand automatically shielding his face from the ungodly bright light. He was going to kill his dad for—

But hadn't kaasan stopped installing the hundred watt lightbulbs? The boy pushed himself up off the pillow; wincing at the sudden strain it caused his back and right shoulder. Ichigo glanced around the room, puzzled, as he studied its every facet.

The walls were far too white and the machines—which he recognized from some of father's medical texts, but couldn't name—were far too expensive for the little Kurosaki Clinic. "Maybe I'm in the hospital?" he wondered aloud. "But why would I…?"

And then he remembered.

He remembered the cool, hellish breath of the monster, remembered the white, burning pain lancing through his back, remembered the gradual awakening in a sideways world. And he remembered the memory of his mother, all alone with the monster.

He had to find her.

* * *

Ishida Souken had seen many trials over the course of his long life: from the brutal execution of his father for "treason", his twin brother cut down by hollows, his little sister vanishing off the face of the earth to god knows where, his wife divorcing him and abandoning their children for their ability to see ghosts ("Witchcraft!"). Despite this, Souken regretted little and moved on with his life, even if he steadily turned more toward the bow and the savage hunt. 

But once, he had sided against his son with the Elder Council. And once, he had lashed out at his only daughter over her choice in husband. And these things—even if there was nothing else—Souken would always regret and never forgive himself for. He had hurt his children on a deeper level than he or they would ever realize.

Now, too, he regretted never meeting his two granddaughters because he, Ishida Souken, master of Kreidebleich Sturm, was afraid of loosing whatever chance he had of salvaging his relationship with his daughter, too terrified of driving that final nail in the coffin. Masaki was almost, if not more so, prideful than he was, and Souken doubted she would accept any apology from him. Or she might have. Masaki was far too kind.

It had taken him all of his courage garnered over some fifty-odd years of being a Quincy to even enter the hospital. But, somehow, everything was made all right when he first caught sight of her, sitting by herself in a lonely corner of the lounge. "Masa-chan?"

The woman looked up from her cup of tea, surprise and shock spreading across her face. "Fa-father? What are you doing here?"

Souken hesitated. Why _was_ he here? "I-I heard about what happened. I—" He took a deep, steadying breath. "I am sorry." Deeply, truly sorry. Sorrier than either Masaki would ever know or he would ever be able to say.

Masaki's left hand—her bandaged hand—tightened, but she smiled, a weak smile filled with warmth and sorrow and a hint of frost. "You can sit down if you to, father." She gestured toward the chair next to her.

He sat and studied her in detail. Her brown hair was limp, her skin sallow, and her eyes were stained red and bloodshot from too much crying. Masaki might not look a step away from the grave like Souken feared she might, but neither did she appear the vibrant young woman Souken remembered from, what, twelve year ago? "You don't look well."

"I've been better." She offered a rueful smile. "I see your jaw healed."

Souken winced. "It did." She had been right, of course, but had she had to throw the _phone_ at him?

Masaki twisted the cup in her hands, before she said, "Ryuu-nii tells me you've been training Uryuu."

"He did?"

"He didn't sound very happy about it."

"Ryuuken has been very verbal in his distaste for the Quincy and our ways, and—beyond this—he does not wish to discuss Uryuu's mother." Nor did he blame him. "But the boy talent, and it is a shame to see talent wasted." And now, more than ever, was Souken glad he went against Ryuuken's wishes. If he had listen to Masako all those years ago, he might have very well lost his daughter and grandson, as well. "Do you…have they…has Ichigo's condition improved at all?"

Masaki looked into her lap. "The doctors say they don't have a clue what's wrong with him, beyond the fact he simply hasn't woken up." Masaki took in a deep breath, "Ryuu-nii says he's healing him to the best of his abilities, but, but healing a soul in a physical body is difficult at even the best of times. And…the burns are extraordinarily severe." Her face, already ashen, paled with every shake word she spoke.

Souken reached out and gripped her shoulder in a comforting gesture. "Masa-chan, it isn't your fault. You haven't touched a bow in _years_, and—"

"I know, I know but does a grandmaster miss even if she hasn't held a bow in years? Does a member of the Black Service aim for a hollow and almost kill her own _son?_"

"Masa-chan…"

"Don't Masa-chan me! You _weren't_ there, how could you know what happened? I broke my solemn oath to my husband to never lay a hand on a bow again! I tried to protect my son, but then end up hurting him far worse than anything that stupid hollow could have done to him because I missed a shot I could have done in my sleep! And, oh God, Yuzu and Karin…why, why did they have to take them, too?" Masaki looked at him, pleading for some kind of answer. "Papa, _why?_"

But… "I don't know." Why couldn't the shinigami just leave them alone?

* * *

It had taken time and ingenuity, but Ichigo had managed to escape his room and avoid the seemingly unending hordes of nurses, doctors, patients and other hospital staff running about—but only barely. As of right now, to avoid a trio of nurses, he had to duck into a (luckily empty) closet. Unfortunately, the aforementioned trio of nurses seemed stubbornly unable to move. 

"Still, I can't help but feel sorry for the boy."

Ichigo didn't feel sorry for him at all. It was the boy's fault that the nurses had stopped in the first place and halted him on his search for his mother.

"You normally want to hit the supervisor over the head with your clipboard when he gives you another mystery patient, Touya-san," a much younger voice giggled.

Who cares about the supervisor? Just move, damnit!

"Well, yeah, but…the boy lost his family, you know? Can't help but feel sorry for him."

The boy…lost his entire family? Ichigo felt a surge of pity rise up in him—he couldn't imagine his life without his idiot dad or crybaby Yuzu or even tagalong Karin, let alone his life without his mother—but he squashed it instantly. _He_ needed to find his mother. _I wonder if I know him?_

"…Kurosaki…"

Ichigo snapped to attention immediately. Kurosaki? But…no, he must have heard wrong.

"The police are saying the Phantom Killer killed them."

"Someone survived?"

"Oo, spoooky."

"Naomi!" Touya shouted. "This isn't a laughing matter."

"Gomen, gomen. I just couldn't help myself." Naomi paused before she continued, "So do you know how Kurosaki-kun…"

_Kurosaki_. He hadn't misheard, had he? _Kurosaki_. His family was…dead…

* * *

"This Council of Forty-Six has gathered here today to pass judgment on one fourth division captain, Kyouraku Isshin. The charges issued from both Gotei Thirteen and this council are thus: abandoning his division in a time of crisis, abandoning his office as captain during a time of crisis, for breaking for oath as both a shinigami and a captain of the Gotei Thirteen to never leave a hollow alive. Not only this, but Kyouraku Isshin stands accused of breaking the first of the Seven Sacred Laws, having been found consorting with a mortal, being married to a mortal and having children by this mortal. He is also accused of breaking the seventh, and most holy, of the Seven Sacred Laws, for by having children with a living soul, he has disrupted the flow of souls from one world to the next, and, in doing so—quite knowingly—created two dead souls," the Judge said, towering over his colleagues in both height and sheer presence. "The punishment for this is complete soul death, by means of the Soukyoku. Do you plead otherwise, fourth division captain, Kyouraku Isshin?" 

The once proud and current co-captain of fourth division, now chained in such way that he had to struggle to even meet the eyes of his prosecutors, growled, "Yes, I do plead otherwise."

* * *

AN: Thank you for reviewing and sorry for the long wait!, but this chapter was even more annoying to write than the first, what with characters not doing what they were supposed to, Souken and Ryuuken vying for screen time, and Ichigo, in general, running amok. But chapter three is already proving easier to write, so it shouldn't take as long for the next chapter (although I make no promises). 

Next Time: Uryuu finds out he has a living aunt, cousin, a dead uncle and two dead cousins. A judge rigs the trial. Ukitake plots. And Ichigo discovers his mother is not dead, and he has an uncle and grandfather.

Kreidebleich Sturm: very, very loosely _white wind_ in German. Souken's bow.

Ryuu-nii: brother Ryuu(ken), Masaki's nickname for Ryuuken

Masako: Masaki and Ryuuken's mother. She may or may not be mentioned later.

Council of Forty-Six: the ruling body who makes up the central office of forty-six, the high court and government of Seireitei. Their decisions are unquestionable, once made. Made up of forty sages and six judges. 


End file.
